David Cameron takes his blueprint to the people

David Cameron will try to convince voters of his "people power" blueprint for the country today as he resumes his campaign tour a day after unveiling the Tories' General Election manifesto.

The Conservative leader will concentrate his efforts in the north west of England on the eve of the UK's first televised leaders debate - which is being held in Manchester.

But the task facing him to win public support was underlined by fresh opinion polls showing the Tory lead narrowing to as few as three points - enough to leave Labour the largest party in a hung Parliament.

Strategists will hope to see the gap grow again in surveys following yesterday's manifesto launch but the polls also showed that while the public wants change, it is not sure the Tories are the answer.

More voters now hope that neither of the main parties score an overall victory on May 6 than wanted one to win outright, one of the surveys - carried out after Labour's own launch - suggested.

Mr Cameron promised a "new kind of politics" involving far more public participation in solving the country's problems yesterday, titling the manifesto "An Invitation to Join the Government of Britain".

It promised new powers for public sector workers to run their services as cooperatives; for parents to set up academy schools; for voters to sack MPs; for residents to veto council tax rises; for communities to buy under-threat post offices and for citizens to elect police chiefs.

It put the £6 billion reversal of Labour's National Insurance hike at the heart of an economic strategy to eliminate "the bulk" of Britain's strategic deficit by the end of the Parliament, with a "credible plan" to be set out in an emergency Budget within 50 days of taking office.

But it failed to match Labour's pledge not to raise income tax. And it made no mention of VAT, which Labour and Liberal Democrats claim the Tories will have to raise to 20% to fund their plans.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there was "a complete hole" in the Tory plans, which would put Britain's economic recovery at risk and "leave people on their own to face the recession".

The three men will go head to head tomorrow evening in the first of the three US-style primetime election TV debates which will punctuate the campaigning with time taken out for intense last-minute preparations.

Mr Cameron admitted yesterday he was nervous about the prospect and expressed fears that the format could fail to engage voters but welcomed the unprecedented opportunity to do battle in front of millions.